Anthropology of Religion: The Unity and Diversity of Religions

Features

• Cover Type: Paperback with 336 pages
• Published by: McGraw-Hill Humanities/Social Sciences/Languages
• Edition: 1st Edition October 24, 2002
• Written in: English
• ISBN 10 Number: 0072387238
• ISBN 13 Number: 978-0072387230
• Book Dimensions: 9 x 7.3 x 0.6 inches
• Weighs: 1.2 pounds

Product Description
This text offers an alternative to the case-driven approach that the sole use of a reader tends to foster. It provides students with ways of conceptualizing what religion is, what its social and psychological functions are, the nature of religious symbolism and religious behavior, and the organizational structure of religions. This text covers all the standard topics (e.g., ideology and symbolism, ritual and ceremony, organizational forms, and social and psychological functions of religion) as well as ones of more recent interest such as religion and gender, the psychology of religion, and pilgrimage.

About The Author
Richley H. Crapo is a Professor of Anthropology at Utah State University. He received his Ph.D. in anthropology at the University of Utah in 1970. He is the author of Cultural Anthropology: Understanding Ourselves and Others (5th ed., McGraw-Hill, 2001), and he has authored and co-authored several other books in subjects related to psychological anthropology and American Indian languages. His area of special interest is the human construction of systems of meaning, particularly in the arenas of personality, gender, and religion.

Reader Reviews
Summary: This book is designed to be a textbook for a course in the anthropology of religion.  It covers all of the majors theories and elements of religion at an understandable level for beginners yet advanced enough to be a good introduction to the topic for someone knowledgeable about religion but not necessarily the anthropology of religion.   Comments: I'm likely biased in my perspective on the text because I know the author (not very well, but he's a nice guy) and was not at all impressed with the instructor of the course for which the text was used. My instructor had a tendency to make erroneous claims and this text was often my source for correcting his mistakes.   The main criticism I have of the book is that its organization isn't always clear.  Certain elements seemed out of place in the overall flow of topics, though organizing everything fluidly in an introductory text is often difficult. For instance, it's usually the case that in order to fully understand topics at the beginning of the book you have to understand the topics at the end of the book. In other words, you have to understand X before you can understand Y, but before you can understand X you need to understand Z, whose understanding is based on Y. I'm not going to fault Crapo on this point as he does his best to overcome this standard short-coming. Other than this minor criticism, I thought the book was well-written, clear, and informative. As a sociologist who studies religion, I obviously felt some things were better explained sociologically than anthropologically, though distinguishing the two is often not possible. I did think it interesting that there was a clear distinction made between psychology of religion and anthropology, but not sociology (though I should note that Crapo generally makes it a point to note if a modern researcher is a sociologist rather than an anthropologist). I think the reason there is not a distinct section on sociology is because many traditionally sociological theorists (Marx, Weber, Durkheim) were co-opted as anthropological theorists (yes, I know, Marx and Weber were both economic theorists to begin with anyway, but since economics doesn't claim them...). This is probably just another example of disciplines looking for historical legitimacy, but anyway... The index, though not perfect, is pretty good and I found myself using it regularly. I have nothing against re-selling textbooks I don't think I'll ever use again, but I plan on keeping this one for future reference when necessary. I would highly recommend this book as a course text. (And Richley, you can thank me for the positive review on mormon-l, if I ever find time to return).